Genuine Lapis Lazuli Fra Angelico Blue Pigment

Genuine Lapis Lazuli Fra Angelico Blue Pigment

Fra Angelico Blue is the lightest, purest, and most luminous grade of genuine natural ultramarine we make. A soft, glowing sky-blue refined entirely from authentic Afghan lapis lazuli. It is also the rarest. To reach this tone, the stone is extracted again and again until almost nothing remains but the blue itself: no calcite, no pyrite, only pure lazurite. That patience is what gives the colour its weightless, lit-from-within glow, and it is the most demanding blue in our range to produce.

The shade takes its name from the Renaissance friar-painter Fra Angelico, who, where other masters reached for the deepest blue, chose the lightest, a delicate, celestial ultramarine for the robe of the Virgin Mary and the skies of heaven. That soft, radiant blue became his signature, and only his name fit the purest grade of the colour.

Refined and ready to paint

Genuine lapis has always had a reputation for being difficult, and the reason is grinding: grind it too far and the blue collapses to grey. Every batch of De Mairo Fra Angelico is refined by hand to exactly the right fineness: pure lazurite, with the dulling calcite and pyrite already removed, brought to the ideal particle size and not a step beyond. You don't grind it, and you don't fight it. Add your binder, walnut or linseed oil, gum arabic, egg yolk for tempera, or acrylic medium — and it disperses smoothly and holds its full-strength colour. You can even stir a little into a ready-made tube paint to enrich it with real lapis.

Why artists choose this pigment?

• Made from 100% genuine Afghan lapis lazuli — pure lazurite, no synthetic ultramarine, dyes, or fillers
• The lightest, purest, and most luminous grade we make — and the most refined
• Refined to the ideal particle size, so no grinding is needed
• Holds its true colour: it won't grey, and natural ultramarine doesn't fade
• Disperses effortlessly in oil, watercolour, gouache, egg tempera, and acrylic medium
• Excellent lightfastness (ASTM I) with centuries of proven permanence
• Non-toxic natural mineral, hand-refined in small batches in Canada

A colour with a thousand-year inheritance

For thousands of years, lapis lazuli was valued more highly than gold, reserved for the most sacred passage a painter could create. De Mairo continues that lineage, refining lapis from the historic Sar-e-Sang mines of Afghanistan using the traditional methods described by Cennino Cennini — honouring centuries of craft while meeting the needs of artists today.

Prefer it ready to paint?

If making your own paint isn't for you, we make it for you. The Fra Angelico shade is also available ready-made in oil, watercolour, and gouache, in 15 ml tubes. The same genuine lapis, milled by hand and ready to use the moment it arrives.